George Watkins: Sherman, Simmons I’m sticking with Denver

I never heard of Richard Sherman (Richard Simmons, yes; Richard Sherman, no) until I saw his mouth flapping like crazy after the NFC title game two weeks ago.

It’s not that I’m not a football fan. Of course I am, otherwise I’d be writing for the Home and Garden section.

But Sunday is one of my regular work days and that’s when I chase down high school football stats from weekend games of every school in all three Salinas-area leagues so we can publish the rushing, receiving and passing leaders in Tuesday’s paper.

We also run a few box scores from those same games, and inputting the team and individual stats is like wading through an IRS form for fiduciary relationships of financial institutions.

In addition, I usually cover one, and sometimes two local football games on Saturday, and Sunday is when I scramble like a madman trying to get those stories out of the way before the phone calls and emails start coming in hot and heavy from the youth football games.

The fun never stops.

Anyway, while all that is going on I have a television hanging from the wall in front of my desk usually turned to a 49er game. Can’t hear much or see much, but a glimpse now and then keeps me updated.

That’s my game-plan for most every Sunday during the local football season from September to December. If I had it my way I’d spend my Sunday’s at the Pizza Gallery on South Main St., especially this Sunday. From what I can tell that might be the best place in town to watch football. I was told the crowd was darn near spilling out onto the sidewalk in their excitement during the 49er-Seahawk game (editor’s note: no bribe was offered for this recommendation. And if a pepperoni pizza shows up at The Salinas Californian newsroom Sunday around kickoff time, it’s just a coincidence).

Anyway, back to Richard Simmons. I mean, Sherman. I can’t remember hearing his name when he was at Stanford either.

But all of a sudden I learned a whole bunch about him. In fact, hardly a day has gone by since that NFC title game without a Richard Sherman update. For a while I thought KNBR was going to choke itself to death on Richard Sherman talk.

When Sherman stared into that camera and launched an all-out verbal assault on Michael Crabtree I could hardly believe what I was hearing. It may have been classless, but you can’t knock his honesty.

I had a pretty good Super Bowl win streak going until 1988. That’s the year Denver played the Washington Redskins.

I took Denver, and the Broncos scored on a 56-yard touchdown pass on their first play.

This is where things get a bit fuzzy. I think the Broncos went up 10-0 and were driving yet again. They had Washington reeling.

But for some odd reason the Broncos called time out, and all that did was allow the Redskins a chance to regroup.

Boy did they regroup.

The Redskins literally went on the warpath. They scored touchdowns on their next five possessions. All in the second quarter. Their 35 points is the most ever scored in one quarter in Super Bowl history. The final was 42-10.

Two years later, not so bad. Broncos got walloped again, 55-10, only this time it was by the 49ers.

Okay, so we’re kind of even.

Though something tells me Seattle could lead this game nearly from start to finish — and in a big way — I’ll give the two points and take the Broncos. I’m sure Richard Simmons would do the same.

If you need a score, Denver 30, Seattle 27 sounds pretty good from someone who barely watches pro football from September to December.

George Watkins is a sports writer for The Salinas Californian. He can be reached at gwatkins@thecalifornian.com and 754-4264. He can also be followed on Twitter at watkins_salnews.